The invention relates to the field of longline fishing gear and more particularly to an improved gangion for longline fishing gear.
Longline fishing is a method of fishing often used to fish for bottom feeders such as halibut, rock cod, ling cod, black cod or dogfish. The halibut is a large, edible bottom-feeding flatfish which often reaches hundreds of pounds in weight. It is prized by commercial fishermen because of its valuable meat and large size. The season on the west coast of North America for commercial fishing of the halibut is very short and therefore the commercial fishermen must be fast and efficient in their catch.
While halibut may be fished using drag nets, the longline method of fishing is preferred. In this way the fish is still alive when pulled into the boat and is not damaged as may be the case with drag net fishing. According to the prior art method of longline fishing, the fisherman will set out lines in an area where the depth is between 200 and 600 feet. The boat lays out a series of ground lines connected to a flag and marker buoy by a buoy line. Each groundline or "skate" is about 600 to 1,000 feet long and a typical boat will lay out 30 or 40 groundlines at a time. Each groundline has attached to it 60 to 100 gangions which are three-foot lengths of No. 72 thread braided nylon. An anchor holds the groundline in place. A hook is secured to the end of each gangion and each hook is baited. The groundline is allowed to "soak" on the bottom for a number of hours until the skipper of the boat considers it appropriate to pull in the groundline and remove the hooked fish.
The groundline is typically 9/32nd-inch (0.6 centimeter) treated nylon line to which the gangion may be attached directly by tying or by the use of a 5-inch (12.7 centimeter) gangion snap, which is a metal snap which allows the gangion to be rapidly attached and removed from the groundline. The so-called "circle" hook is currently preferred for the hook due to its improved holding ability.
The problem with the current longline fishing gear is that the braided nylon gangion becomes extremely twisted and tangled when it is drawn back into the boat due to the action of the hooked fish. The gangion is quite stiff and each gangion must be neatly stored on the boat for the next baiting of the line. Currently it is necessary for the crew member to remove the gangion as the line is being drawn back into the boat and take some time to untangle it. As a result, valuable fishing time is lost.
A number of modifications had been attempted to the gangion to overcome this problem. Monofilament nyulon has been substituted for the stiffer braided nylon, but such monofilament is slippery and difficult to see by the crew member. Because it is slippery when wet, and the crew member is using large rubber gloves to removed the hooked fish, it is difficult for the crew member to handle a monofilament gangion. Also, in bad light, as the line is being drawn back onto the boat, the crew member cannot see the individual gangion and may get hooked accidentally. It is also difficult for a crew member to remove the pure monofilament gangions from the bait-box in poor light. Placing a swivel between the gangion line and the hook or between the gangion line and the snap has also been attempted. In the former case the hook does not set properly. In the latter case the swivel is generally useless as the line wraps around the groundline.